Plymouth Argyle

Image source, Rex Features

Exeter City will host Plymouth Argyle in the first Devon derby for more than two years in October.

New Pilgrims boss Tom Cleverley will experience his first derby on Saturday, 25 October after the 2025-26 League One fixtures were released earlier on Thursday.

The return game at Home Park is scheduled for Saturday, 11 April - the fourth-to-last game of the season.

The fixture returns after Argyle were relegated from the Championship at the end of last season.

The two rivals last met on 15 April 2023 when Matt Butcher's deflected goal was enough to give Argyle a 1-0 win at St James Park as Plymouth went on to win the league title.

Two Ryan Hardie goals in the final 20 minutes earned Argyle a 4-2 victory over City in the last meeting at Home Park on 31 October 2022.

Exeter last beat their bitter rivals in October 2019 when they ran out 4-0 winners at home - their biggest win since 1925.

Image source, Rex Features

Plymouth Argyle will play at home on Boxing Day for the first time in nine years this December.

The Pilgrims - who last hosted the traditional post-Christmas fixture when they drew 3-3 with Wycombe on 26 December 2016 - will meet Reading at Home Park.

Argyle's much-travelled fans will also have a home game three days later when Wycombe again come to Devon before the Green Army hit the road for a New Year's Day trip to Stevenage.

Plymouth will begin their return to League One with the visit of Barnsley to Home Park on Saturday, 2 August.

The game will be the first for new head coach Tom Cleverley since taking over earlier this month after Miron Muslic left the club.

The Pilgrims will be reunited with former manager Steven Schumacher - who guided them to the League One title in 2023 - in their first away game a week later when Argyle head to Bolton Wanderers.

The first Devon derby with Exeter City for more than for two years will be at St James Park on 25 October with the reverse fixture at Home Park on 11 April.

Argyle's final home game of the season is against Port Vale on 25 April before they end the campaign a week later at Northampton Town.

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Sierra Leone forward Mustapha Bundu has rejected Plymouth Argyle's offer of a new contract.

The 28-year-old was a free agent after his deal came to an end this summer and is set to join a German second tier side.

Bundu scored 14 goals in 70 appearances for the Pilgrims after moving to the club from Belgian side Anderlecht in September 2023.

He found his best form towards the end of last season under former boss Miron Muslic - who has since taken over at Schalke.

He scored six goals in his final 10 appearances for the Pilgrims including four in his last four games as Argyle were relegated to League One after ending the season three points adrift of safety.

Image source, Rex Features

New Plymouth Argyle head coach Tom Cleverley says he is resigned to losing midfielder Adam Randell.

Speculation has linked the homegrown 24-year-old with a move to Championship side Bristol City after Argyle were relegated to League One last month.

Randell played 173 games for the Pilgrims over seven years and scored 10 goals and has a year remaining on his contract.

"You're going to have a lot of interest and especially when there's buy-out clauses and things like that, so there's a strong possibility that that happens," Cleverley said.

"He's a player that I really admire. When we played Plymouth in the cup last year and speaking to Wayne (Rooney), he spoke really highly of him and being a midfielder myself he's someone who I've paid a lot of attention to over the last 10 months.

"I'm disappointed I'm not able to work with him but I'll never stand in the way of anyone wanting to play at the top level.

"Let's hope that our players are playing at that level together at Argyle and we don't lose too many of them."

Image source, BBC Sport

So Plymouth Argyle have got their man in Tom Cleverley.

Chairman Simon Hallett says the former Watford boss is the "the perfect person to be our next head coach".

But what did you think? Here are some of your takes on Cleverley being the new man in the Argyle dugout.

Andy: I welcome any new manager and wish Tom all the best and hope great things come for Argyle. Am still a bit concerned by his lack of experience but every novice manager has to start somewhere.

Ben: I am not convinced. I hope I am wrong but really wanted a more experienced manager with proven success. Hoped for Ruben Selles but guess the South West wasn't for him.

Jeremy: As an Argyle fan living in Hertfordshire, I've seen plenty of Watford over recent years. The fans adore Tom Cleverley and you don't reach that status at a club without being top quality. Some fans seem worried that it's another ex-Man Utd player but I see Cleverley having very little in common with Rooney.

Andrew: Another unproven manager with little track record but a flashy name who will use us as a stepping stone. But that's what everyone wants. Personally I'd rather we gave it to one of our own like Paul Wotton.

Robert: Hopefully now, we have a manager that will be loyal through success and the board loyal to him through the tough times. Give him a full season in charge and see where we are. If promotion does come along, make it very hard for him to leave.

Mark: Great appointment after being relegated. Shows ambition to go straight back up with the new early signings. Need a top striker, with [Ryan] Hardie we will be flying.

Leonardo: Rooney 2.0? Wish we had gone for an older, wiser, experienced manager to steady the good ship Argyle after recent seasons of turmoil and upheaval, not another experimental unproven project. Surely new young managers should start with a few non-league clubs?

Keith: We needed someone with Argyle ties, not another celebrity. No win scenario. Cleverley fails and Argyle fail, or he succeeds and accepts the first offer to go elsewhere. Shilton, Rooney, Cleverley... just another high profile name. Will we ever learn?

Phil: Well done to the board for making a decision early. It remains to be seen if it's the right one but Tom has shown qualities needed for success so let's give the man a fair go. A decent start will have the fans backing him to the hilt and quickly forgetting last season's despair.

Clive: We got the best coach available. The Green Army will back him. He must keep Joe Edwards as he's our captain and leader. His blood flows green and he has the ethos of the club in his heart.

Anthony: Definitely a positive appointment. Thought that Tom was very unlucky to get the sack at Watford. It promises a very attractive brand of football, the way he manages. Hopefully he can get Argyle back in the Championship at the first attempt and can persuade Adam Randell and Ryan Hardie to stay at Argyle.

Nick: Delighted. Decent young coach who sold £30m worth of players last summer, reinvested just £3m and still managed to improve on their previous finish.

Plymouth Argyle have announced former Watford boss Tom Cleverley as the new man in charge.

The Hornets ended last season in 14th place and found themselves the least successful Championship club in 2025 to lead to Cleverley's dismissal.

But while it didn't work out with Watford, could the 35-year-old be just what Argyle need to get themselves back up to the second tier?

Or is hiring a man whose side struggled during the second half of last season cause for concern?

Let us know what you think.

Image source, Rex Features

Plymouth Argyle centre-back Maksym Talovierov earned his eighth cap for Ukraine in his country's 2-1 win over New Zealand.

The 24-year-old came on with 24 minutes to go in the friendly in Toronto as he won his first cap since moving to Home Park in January.

Oleksiy Hutsuliak put Ukraine ahead nine minutes after half-time, only for Marko Stamenic to equalise five minutes later.

Arsenal's Oleksandr Zinchenko got the winning goal with 15 minutes to go as recently released Argyle striker Ben Waine led the line for the All Whites.

Meanwhile fellow Plymouth defender Victor Palsson played in Iceland's 1-0 loss to Northern Ireland.

He did not face Argyle team-mate Conor Hazard after the Northern Ireland goalkeeper was injured in his side's 2-1 loss to Denmark on Saturday.

Palsson played the full 90 minutes, four days after scoring for his country in their 3-1 win over Scotland at Hampden Park.

Ben Ashton
BBC Sport England

Image source, Getty Images

Watford are getting relegated, Plymouth are staying up, Millwall are in the play-offs and Portsmouth are also battling for a top-six spot.

Does something sound a bit off? Well, that's what would have happened if the Championship season started on 1 January.

Here's a look at the 2025 calendar year table, showing who the form sides were in the second half of the season and who went into freefall.

Perhaps the most notable difference between the actual final top six and the 2025 version is that Millwall would be in the play-offs and Premier League-bound Sunderland would not.

Burnley and Leeds still comfortably occupy the automatic promotion spots, albeit the Clarets would be unbeaten at the top of the pile with the Whites in second.

Coventry improved significantly after Frank Lampard replaced Mark Robins and are third over the course of the year.

The Sky Blues would instead be pitted against Bristol City in the play-off semi-final as opposed to Sunderland. Who knows what difference that would have made to their promotion bid...

Image source, Rex Features

Portsmouth - who spent much of the season battling relegation and only secured their Championship safety with two games to spare - are seventh and just one point outside a play-off spot.

Pompey sit above Sunderland, who lost their final five games of the season and are down in eighth.

The data perhaps shows just how long Regis Le Bris' side effectively had a play-off spot sewn up before their victory at Wembley against Sheffield United to claim promotion.

Relegation battlers Oxford find themselves seven places higher than where they actually finished in the 2024-25 campaign (17th), reflecting the good work done by Gary Rowett after he took over as boss from Des Buckingham.

Image source, Rex Features

Plymouth would have survived comfortably had the season begun in January 2025, showing a significant uptick after Miron Muslic replaced Wayne Rooney at the helm.

Middlesbrough tailed off significantly in the second half of the season, underpinning why they missed out on the play-offs. It was a drop off that ultimately cost Michael Carrick his job as head coach.

Norwich City conceded more goals (32) than any other side in 2025, which counteracted the hard work they'd done at the other end, having been the fourth top scorers (31) since the turn of the year.

Image source, Rex Features

Watford had a disappointing 2025, winning just five of their 23 games and losing 13 to finish bottom of the calendar year table.

The Hornets had the joint-worst goal difference along with Cardiff (-10) and head coach Tom Cleverley was sacked following the end of the season.

Preston and Cardiff won the fewest games of any side in 2025 (4), which cost the Bluebirds their Championship status and almost led to the Lilywhites dropping into League One as they avoided relegation by one point.

Paul Heckingbottom's side would be down if only games this year were counted.

Luton and Derby scored the fewest goals in 2025 (19) and attacking output was an issue that plagued both sides throughout the entire campaign.

It had major consequences for the Hatters with back-to-back relegations, while the Rams survived by a point - and only on goal difference in the yearly table.

Data collated from Transfermarkt